N64
Smash Champion
**2014 DISCLAIMER: This information has been outdated for like 4+ years, and much of it is wrong! I will change it up later. Use at your own discretion**
I'm currently rewriting a synopsis of matchups, which you can find in the following spoiler:
If you want to look at the old, outdated original post, you can find it in the spoiler below.
I'm currently rewriting a synopsis of matchups, which you can find in the following spoiler:
Characters are sorted alphabetically in each tier
Hard
Ice Climbers - Don't get grabbed. Even if it's just Popo left, don't get grabbed, he can chainthrow you solo. This means don't do shieldgrabbable aerials, and just be generally very cautious whenever you are on the ground. Watch out for crouchcancel dsmash/grab. Ice Climbers don't do great in the air, so try to stay airborn as much as possible and put them into the air whenever you can. Seperate them and kill nana whenever possible. Edgeguarding solo Popo isn't too difficult, so once you kill Nana do what you can to send Popo offstage. Just watch his overB and either tailspike him or usmash/fsmash him (depending on if he goes high or low). The main objective again in this matchup is Don't Get Grabbed.
Jigglypuff - Her aerial control is monsterous. Don't try to force your way in on her, you're just going to get bair'd a million times. Properly timed bair just beats all your approaches. You want to try to threaten jiggs's space and make her worried that you are going to nair in. She will either float toward you to preempt this, in which case you can dash away to make her aerial whiff, then dashdance back in with a quick nair to punish the small downtime of her aerials, or she will back away and aerial, where you then just keep dashdancing into her space until she runs out of stage or chooses the first option. As I said, you never want to try to 'beat' Jiggs's aerials, it doesn't work. Look for the gaps, get in with a couple of hits, and then try to control as much of the stage as you can while she comes back. If you can cage Jiggs a bit, the matchup becomes easier. The main difficulty in the matchup is you can't really combo her, and you don't do much damage otherwise. It will be a long attrition battle generally, so not getting hit is important. Be careful edgeguarding and recovering against her, she can actually edgeguard you fairly well (compared to other chars). Don't overextend and get knocked offstage. Rest is fairly minor (difficult to land) in this matchup, but keep an eye for it. Usmash kills pretty early, but it's pretty hard to land. Look for opportunities for it once she hits 70%+, but you'll probably have to just nair her to death anyways.
Peach - Peach is a moving wall, similarish to Jiggs. Her nair is really strong against you, don't try to beat it. She can crouchcancel fairly well and gets decent punishes off of it. You can't combo her very well, but she is susceptible to tailspikes. Low percent usmash->thunder and tailspikes will be your kill moves. As far as getting damage in, good luck. Nair is decent just because of how fast it is, but it's a little unsafe especially at low percents. Avoid turnips if you can. They aren't a huge deal, but they do mess up your movement, and they can wrack on decent damage if you get hit by enough of them. The low percents will be the toughest in this matchup, be really careful in how you approach peach. Avoid taking damage at pretty much all costs.
Sheik - Don't get grabbed. Sheik has an a chainthrow. If you do get grabbed, either DI up and slightly behind her to avoid the CG (then get ready to DI left/right her usmash/utilt) or DI towards the nearest ledge. You'll still take a lot of damage, but that's why you should not get grabbed. Dealing with her neutral game can be rough. Needles are really good, her ftilt is really problematic, her aerials reach farther than yours, etc. It's tough, but you're looking for your way in. Get shiek to commit to something, and punish it. If she does anything unsafe on your shield, uair out of shield and stay on her. If she's at the right distance, nair through her. If it hits, follow up. Pika has some decent combos on sheik, and she actually has a fairly tough time getting you off her. Keep the pressure on while you can, you won't get many opportunities. Fortunately edgeguarding sheik is fairly easy. Take the ledge from her, refresh invincibility right before she has to upB, then waveland onstage and punish her landing lag with usmash or grab->bthrow (depending on situation).
Doable
Dr. Mario - He can chainthrow you, don't get grabbed. Especially at higher percents, throw leads to fair which kills you. Pills can be annoying, but you just have to deal with them. Get under or over them if you want to get in, and respect them when he's using them to approach. Your nair is pretty safe as long as you don't trade with his fair or late-hit nair. His bair works decently against your approaches, but makes him vulnerable to usmash. His utilt is pretty decent too, but you can fsmash it or come in and apply pressure after it ends. If you get him above you, go to town, there's not much Doc can do. He's really scared of double jumping, because uair hurts his already terrible recovery, and his dair is ok but not great. If he's offstage, there's plenty you can do. Chasing him offstage can work well, just be ready to get around a defensive pill or two. Ledgehogging works, especially if you take away other options while chasing him offstage. Ftilt works well too, just watch where he is and space appropriately so you don't either whiff or get hit by his upB. Watch for his cape on recovery, if you sweetspot ledge it's unlikely to hit but still be weary of it.
Falco - There are two key aspects to successfully fighting Falco. The first is dealing with lasers; the second is dealing with his combo game (either by not getting hit, or by DIing correctly if you do). Lasers are tough, they do pretty well at just interrupting Pikachu's movement. You need to keep moving though, don't fall into the trap of trying to just shield lasers and counterattack as he gets in. Avoid lasers whenever possible, and if you get hit by a few then that's fine too (as long as he can't follow them up directly). Stay mobile, stay mobile, stay mobile. Be on a different plane than where Falco wants to shoot, and if he jumps up / drops down to shoot a laser on your level, use that opportunity to get around it and approach. Now, dealing with his combo game. Make sure your approaches are tight. Don't land too close to his shield (you'll get shine out of shielded). Don't miss l-cancels. Respect his dair (most of the time). Respect his bair. You still have to pressure Falco a lot, or else he's just going to laser and get the encounters on his own terms, just be safe with your pressure. Once you're in, get him offstage. Pika is excellent at edgeguarding Falco. If you can hit him once while he's offstage, he's dead.
Fox - Fox is tough. You kind of have to chase him, but he's also pretty good at dealing with being chased. if you don't chase him, he shoots you with his gun a lot and that's bad. The main difficulty in this matchup is his dashdance. It gets him so much value. It is amazing for him, respect that he can do it. Watch out for throwing out predictable nairs that he can react to and dashaway->dashback->grab/usmash/nair/whatever punish. You kind of have to pressure his space and only present threats that he has to guess at instead of react to. Push him to the edge of the stage with your own dashdance and try to be ready to react to his threats (most commonly nair or jc usmash). Once he's cornered, continue watching for threats and also watch for how he wants to escape. Catch him with uair or dashdancing out of his retaliation when he wants to get out. Then normal stuff, get him offstage, edgeguard with option, etc. His recovery is fairly susceptible to edgeguards, you mostly have to figure out if he's going to sideB or upB. If he sideBs, intercept it or cover where he'll land. If he upBs, he has to stall for a couple seconds before he starts moving. Tailspike him during this.
Mario - Similar to Doc matchup, refer to that writeup above. Fireballs are less annoying than pills, but they can still slow you down (they just offer less followup opportunities than pills). Still don't get grabbed. Chain throw is still prevalent, and he can end a little earlier with fsmash which is unlikely to kill but puts you at a percent where the next stray hit could. Watch out for fsmash in general. It outspaces you and hurts a lot. Get below him if possible, punish his poor recovery, etc.
Marth - He has a sword. It covers a lot of area. You have speed. Use your speed to get around his sword. Don't try to beat it, your hitboxes aren't that good. You want to pressure Marth by being just outside of short hop fair range. At this range you threaten to short hop in and nair which he can't beat on reaction. This will often cause the Marth player to either shield, dash forward and grab, or throw out a move (like fair, fsmash, dtilt) to try to catch you. If he shields, nair through his shield and he can't do anything about it. You're now inside his range with his back towards you, apply pressure. If he dashes forward, presumably to grab, you can stick out a hitbox or try to grab him first, or just dash away far enough that the grab will whiff and then come back in with your choice of punish (nair, jcusmash, grab, etc.). If he throws out a hitbox and it whiffs, that's your cue to get in, generally with nair. Once you connect with nair, keep on Marth. He has relative difficulty getting you off of him, and if you end up being below him this is a scary situation for him. Marth's only real option is dair, which is particularly laggy/risky, while you threaten to just juggle him and/or uair spike him. Chase him offstage almost always. You don't have to commit to hitting him, but if you do he is likely dead. If he holds back or tries to stall and avoid getting hit while offstage, you can just ledgehog which will either kill him or give you a free punish (if you're quick enough) when he lands onstage. Just recognize his ability to stall/delay his upB while offstage.
Even
C. Falcon
Ganon
Link
Luigi
Pikachu
Samus
Young Link
Easy Peasy
Bowser
Donkey Kong
Kirby
Mewtwo
Mr. Game & Watch
Ness
Pichu
Roy
Yoshi
Zelda
Hard
Ice Climbers - Don't get grabbed. Even if it's just Popo left, don't get grabbed, he can chainthrow you solo. This means don't do shieldgrabbable aerials, and just be generally very cautious whenever you are on the ground. Watch out for crouchcancel dsmash/grab. Ice Climbers don't do great in the air, so try to stay airborn as much as possible and put them into the air whenever you can. Seperate them and kill nana whenever possible. Edgeguarding solo Popo isn't too difficult, so once you kill Nana do what you can to send Popo offstage. Just watch his overB and either tailspike him or usmash/fsmash him (depending on if he goes high or low). The main objective again in this matchup is Don't Get Grabbed.
Jigglypuff - Her aerial control is monsterous. Don't try to force your way in on her, you're just going to get bair'd a million times. Properly timed bair just beats all your approaches. You want to try to threaten jiggs's space and make her worried that you are going to nair in. She will either float toward you to preempt this, in which case you can dash away to make her aerial whiff, then dashdance back in with a quick nair to punish the small downtime of her aerials, or she will back away and aerial, where you then just keep dashdancing into her space until she runs out of stage or chooses the first option. As I said, you never want to try to 'beat' Jiggs's aerials, it doesn't work. Look for the gaps, get in with a couple of hits, and then try to control as much of the stage as you can while she comes back. If you can cage Jiggs a bit, the matchup becomes easier. The main difficulty in the matchup is you can't really combo her, and you don't do much damage otherwise. It will be a long attrition battle generally, so not getting hit is important. Be careful edgeguarding and recovering against her, she can actually edgeguard you fairly well (compared to other chars). Don't overextend and get knocked offstage. Rest is fairly minor (difficult to land) in this matchup, but keep an eye for it. Usmash kills pretty early, but it's pretty hard to land. Look for opportunities for it once she hits 70%+, but you'll probably have to just nair her to death anyways.
Peach - Peach is a moving wall, similarish to Jiggs. Her nair is really strong against you, don't try to beat it. She can crouchcancel fairly well and gets decent punishes off of it. You can't combo her very well, but she is susceptible to tailspikes. Low percent usmash->thunder and tailspikes will be your kill moves. As far as getting damage in, good luck. Nair is decent just because of how fast it is, but it's a little unsafe especially at low percents. Avoid turnips if you can. They aren't a huge deal, but they do mess up your movement, and they can wrack on decent damage if you get hit by enough of them. The low percents will be the toughest in this matchup, be really careful in how you approach peach. Avoid taking damage at pretty much all costs.
Sheik - Don't get grabbed. Sheik has an a chainthrow. If you do get grabbed, either DI up and slightly behind her to avoid the CG (then get ready to DI left/right her usmash/utilt) or DI towards the nearest ledge. You'll still take a lot of damage, but that's why you should not get grabbed. Dealing with her neutral game can be rough. Needles are really good, her ftilt is really problematic, her aerials reach farther than yours, etc. It's tough, but you're looking for your way in. Get shiek to commit to something, and punish it. If she does anything unsafe on your shield, uair out of shield and stay on her. If she's at the right distance, nair through her. If it hits, follow up. Pika has some decent combos on sheik, and she actually has a fairly tough time getting you off her. Keep the pressure on while you can, you won't get many opportunities. Fortunately edgeguarding sheik is fairly easy. Take the ledge from her, refresh invincibility right before she has to upB, then waveland onstage and punish her landing lag with usmash or grab->bthrow (depending on situation).
Doable
Dr. Mario - He can chainthrow you, don't get grabbed. Especially at higher percents, throw leads to fair which kills you. Pills can be annoying, but you just have to deal with them. Get under or over them if you want to get in, and respect them when he's using them to approach. Your nair is pretty safe as long as you don't trade with his fair or late-hit nair. His bair works decently against your approaches, but makes him vulnerable to usmash. His utilt is pretty decent too, but you can fsmash it or come in and apply pressure after it ends. If you get him above you, go to town, there's not much Doc can do. He's really scared of double jumping, because uair hurts his already terrible recovery, and his dair is ok but not great. If he's offstage, there's plenty you can do. Chasing him offstage can work well, just be ready to get around a defensive pill or two. Ledgehogging works, especially if you take away other options while chasing him offstage. Ftilt works well too, just watch where he is and space appropriately so you don't either whiff or get hit by his upB. Watch for his cape on recovery, if you sweetspot ledge it's unlikely to hit but still be weary of it.
Falco - There are two key aspects to successfully fighting Falco. The first is dealing with lasers; the second is dealing with his combo game (either by not getting hit, or by DIing correctly if you do). Lasers are tough, they do pretty well at just interrupting Pikachu's movement. You need to keep moving though, don't fall into the trap of trying to just shield lasers and counterattack as he gets in. Avoid lasers whenever possible, and if you get hit by a few then that's fine too (as long as he can't follow them up directly). Stay mobile, stay mobile, stay mobile. Be on a different plane than where Falco wants to shoot, and if he jumps up / drops down to shoot a laser on your level, use that opportunity to get around it and approach. Now, dealing with his combo game. Make sure your approaches are tight. Don't land too close to his shield (you'll get shine out of shielded). Don't miss l-cancels. Respect his dair (most of the time). Respect his bair. You still have to pressure Falco a lot, or else he's just going to laser and get the encounters on his own terms, just be safe with your pressure. Once you're in, get him offstage. Pika is excellent at edgeguarding Falco. If you can hit him once while he's offstage, he's dead.
Fox - Fox is tough. You kind of have to chase him, but he's also pretty good at dealing with being chased. if you don't chase him, he shoots you with his gun a lot and that's bad. The main difficulty in this matchup is his dashdance. It gets him so much value. It is amazing for him, respect that he can do it. Watch out for throwing out predictable nairs that he can react to and dashaway->dashback->grab/usmash/nair/whatever punish. You kind of have to pressure his space and only present threats that he has to guess at instead of react to. Push him to the edge of the stage with your own dashdance and try to be ready to react to his threats (most commonly nair or jc usmash). Once he's cornered, continue watching for threats and also watch for how he wants to escape. Catch him with uair or dashdancing out of his retaliation when he wants to get out. Then normal stuff, get him offstage, edgeguard with option, etc. His recovery is fairly susceptible to edgeguards, you mostly have to figure out if he's going to sideB or upB. If he sideBs, intercept it or cover where he'll land. If he upBs, he has to stall for a couple seconds before he starts moving. Tailspike him during this.
Mario - Similar to Doc matchup, refer to that writeup above. Fireballs are less annoying than pills, but they can still slow you down (they just offer less followup opportunities than pills). Still don't get grabbed. Chain throw is still prevalent, and he can end a little earlier with fsmash which is unlikely to kill but puts you at a percent where the next stray hit could. Watch out for fsmash in general. It outspaces you and hurts a lot. Get below him if possible, punish his poor recovery, etc.
Marth - He has a sword. It covers a lot of area. You have speed. Use your speed to get around his sword. Don't try to beat it, your hitboxes aren't that good. You want to pressure Marth by being just outside of short hop fair range. At this range you threaten to short hop in and nair which he can't beat on reaction. This will often cause the Marth player to either shield, dash forward and grab, or throw out a move (like fair, fsmash, dtilt) to try to catch you. If he shields, nair through his shield and he can't do anything about it. You're now inside his range with his back towards you, apply pressure. If he dashes forward, presumably to grab, you can stick out a hitbox or try to grab him first, or just dash away far enough that the grab will whiff and then come back in with your choice of punish (nair, jcusmash, grab, etc.). If he throws out a hitbox and it whiffs, that's your cue to get in, generally with nair. Once you connect with nair, keep on Marth. He has relative difficulty getting you off of him, and if you end up being below him this is a scary situation for him. Marth's only real option is dair, which is particularly laggy/risky, while you threaten to just juggle him and/or uair spike him. Chase him offstage almost always. You don't have to commit to hitting him, but if you do he is likely dead. If he holds back or tries to stall and avoid getting hit while offstage, you can just ledgehog which will either kill him or give you a free punish (if you're quick enough) when he lands onstage. Just recognize his ability to stall/delay his upB while offstage.
Even
C. Falcon
Ganon
Link
Luigi
Pikachu
Samus
Young Link
Easy Peasy
Bowser
Donkey Kong
Kirby
Mewtwo
Mr. Game & Watch
Ness
Pichu
Roy
Yoshi
Zelda
If you want to look at the old, outdated original post, you can find it in the spoiler below.
Very Easy
Pichu: One of the few characters Pika has a range advantage on, so take advantage of it. He's light, so he's nice usmash bait. Also, your jolts are spammable, his aren't. Try to stay close enough to hit him with usmash/tilts, but not quite close enough for his usmash, because his usmash->thunder can still kill you at mid-high percents. When recovering against him, try to quick attack over him if he's waiting by the edge(to avoid his fsmash), and sweetspot if you can get to the edge before him. If you do get hit by his fsmash, try to smash DI away and up out of it.
Kirby: Another character with less range. He also doesn't have many combos on pika (that I know of). Watch the bair when recovering, and be quick to upB if he dairs you, as you can almost always recover from it once you get the timing down. Snipe his recovery with jolts, or fsmash/dtilt/ftilt the ledge when he upBs, then ledgehog. Uair spikes can also be kinda brutal, especially if you can get him after he's used a few jumps. If he's not CCing, fsmash or usmash when possible. If he is, dsmash. You don't have to worry about a projectile against him (unless he gains your powers, but that's minor), so spam jolts to get him in the air if need be, then just stay under him. Usmash at mid-high percents or ftilt/fsmashing his upB are probably your best methods of killing him. Watch for his uair, it hurts.
Mewtwo: Just a poor character in most respects. About equal in range of moves, with a slight advantage to mewtwo. Pika's moves pack more punch though, and are easier to string together. Uair spike when you can, and usmash when you can't. Try not to get grabbed, as it'll probably be the way he'll kill you after 100%. Spamming jolts is usually pretty safe, as it's a bit better than his shadow pellets, especially on uneven surfaces. He dies to usmash->thunder early, and his recovery makes uair spike kills difficult, so go for upwards kills if at all possible. Fsmash works too for stages with closeish sides. Whenever he dtilts you, DI away to avoid getting faired/grabbed, and watch out for a grab as soon as you land. Usually you can nair/fair before you land from the dtilt to catch him off guard, or just ftilt once you land. I think you can cc the dtilt into a dsmash at lower percentages too.
Easy
DK: A big target. Uair destroys his recovery as well, when you get the chance for one. His bair isn't that big of a threat for edgeguarding, as you can usually get around it, but still watch out for it. His uair (or grab->carry->uthrow->uair) can also be pretty nasty. Mix up your DI, as he has many options from the uair (fair if you DI in front, uair or bair if you DI behind) but he has to somewhat prepare for it. At high percentages (90-100ish), you'll probably outright die from uair. He's got some range to him, but most of his big-range attacks are either slow or weak(except bair). If he's retreating fairs a lot, just wait and jc grab right after he lands. or you can just jolt and force him to come to you. Pop him up with a uair or nair whenever possible and just keep the pressure on. Pika can do some nasty combos on DK. Use your speed and his size to your advantage. For edgeguarding him, I usually either fsmash the edge, dair him from above while he's off the stage, or ledgehog right before he upBs to the edge, and then nair him while I still have some invincibility frames. If they're good at wallteching, you can also catch them off guard by just jabbing once while they upB near the edge and they often will fall too much to make it back by the time they upB again (DK's vertical recovery is terrible). Main things to watch out for is grabs (he can easily do 60% to you from one), upB from shield (it has a surprisingly large hitbox), and bair.
Yoshi: Jolt > eggs. Your smashes >= his smashes. Abuse his lack of a third jump whenever possible. If you can uair him after his second jump, by all means do it. Usmash out of shield any nair/dash attack approaches by him. Dsmash works well as well. Watch out for his dsmash, occasional usmash/fsmash, and a well-placed nair. Also be weary of his ability to double jump to a ledgehog quickly, so be ready to quick attack to the stage at a moment's notice if he's near the edge. Play a lot of hit and run, just nair/dairing through him, and use jolts to make him come to you.
Game & Watch: Shield->usmash->thunder. Shield->wd->grab. You win. Ok, not quite as simple as that, but it's close. G&W is light as hell, so usmash->thunder kills at <60% are quite possible. Shield->usmash his aerials. Stay just out of range of his dtilts and fsmash if he tries one. Try not to get grabbed
. Uair spikes can be somewhat effective, but usmash is probably your best bet for kills. Watch out primarily for his fair, nair, and dtilt, as they'll probably be what kills you.
Zelda: Also, light as hell. Her aerials pack a punch, and keep a weary eye for her fsmash, but thankfully she's pretty slow and immobile. Use your speed to your advantage, play mostly a hit-and-run game until she's in the mid 60%s, then get ready to usmash. Don't rely too much on jolts, as she can reflect them (though, it's a bit of a laggy reflector). Uair can also be somewhat brutal on her recovery, just uair, ledgehog, and then follow her onto the stage into a usmash if she does go for the stage. Primarily watch out for her bairs and fairs, they're the center of her game, so get used to the spacing she needs for them and stay out of that range.
Even
Bowser: Big target. Have fun with the combos. Also, uair spike owns his recovery if you can get one in. Otherwise, be ready to do a fair amount of damage before killing him (probably with a usmash). Try not to trade blows, as it won't benefit you. Dsmash/fair/grab, do whatever you can to start a combo, then don't let up. Most of the match is avoiding his tricks and combing the hell out of him when you can. Never land next to him while he's sheilding if you can avoid it, as you'll get fortressed. This isn't so bad at lower percentages (though it still does some damage), but it'll kill you at 100%+ depending on stage and DI. Also don't get too dependant on your shield, he can still approach with a claw if he expects it. His fair and uair are the only aerials you really have to worry about, because of the speed of the fair and the knockback of the uair. Try to avoid getting above him, as he has multiple ways of killing you at pretty low percents (utilt, usmash, uair). Watch out for his <100% getup attack also as it's quick and has more priority than about anything of yours. His ftilt will be his primary edgeguarding tool, and it will easily hit pika's crappy hitbox upon recovery. Try to stall (so that he mistimes his ftilt), or recover to a platform above and away from him.
Link: He's got some range on you (especially with the projectiles), and a bit of knockback to some moves, but he's generally lacking in mobility. Hit and run seems to work best, and his weight makes him moderately comboable, but watch out for him to sneak in a nair/dair to break it...and potentially kill you. His uair is quick and dangerous too, so avoid approaching from above when possible. Jolt his projectiles when possible. Uair spike if the chance arises, and then follow the same edge-guarding plan as vs. young link. Fsmash or usmash any missed/shielded upBs/hookshots. His upB edgeguard can also hit your upB hitbox during recovery, so be ready to tech and return to the stage before his lag finishes. Mostly similar to the y.link fight, except you'll have to do a little more damage, and will die a little faster to most moves.
Roy: He's got range on you, but he's still gotta get close to kill you, and pika generally does alright in close quarters. Annoy him with jolts. Uair ***** his recovery about as much as marth's. And pretty much anything that sends him off the edge is good, because his recovery is utter crap. Just knock him off with an aerial or fsmash and follow him out with a soft nair or other aerial to push him just a bit farther, which is all that is needed to kill him. Otherwise, just hit and run, staying just outside the distance of his sword.
Falcon: He can combo the hell out of you, but you can do the same thing right back to him. Whoever sets the pace for a life usually ends up taking that stock. Uair screws up most of his aerial game, and dsmash can get through a lot of his approach. If you get grabbed, you'll get punished, but the same thing goes for him (though his grab is admittantly better). Interrupt his combos with fair/nair/uair. Edge-guard with aerials or jolts, same-ol-same-ol. Watch out for a knee or nair from the edge, usually just back up a bit and jolt spam until he gets off the edge and chase his recovery. Just take advantage of uair/uthrow/usmash combos thanks to his fastfalliness and size. Stay below him and usmash/dsmash or do rising aerials. If you're above him, you'll get uaired. Watch out for his stomp (dsmash will uuuusually take care of it) as it will lead to a knee. And knees freakin hurt.
Jigglypuff: Though many pika players say Jiggly is easymode, the fight becomes a lot more difficult at more advanced levels of play. She is light as hell, take advantage of it. Pika's not very wall-of-painable (DI away from the first if it hits you, and you're fine), and a smallish target for a rest, so Jiggly loses a couple of her strengths in that respect. It's hard for jiggs to edgeguard pika, so feel free to hang back a bit when recovering if she chases you out, and just upB around her to get back to the stage. At low percentages, don't get uptilted and watch out for uair, as both could lead to a rest. Usually you can stick in an aerial or dsmash before jiggs to avoid either of these situations. Jolt to keep her off the ground and usmash whenever there's an opportunity. You've got almost as much mobility in the air as her as well, so use that if you wish. Just watch out for her bair, its hitbox is ridiculous.
Pikachu: Duh. A lot of pika's tricks don't work on himself, so it's kind of a weird fight. You also don't have the advantage of your opponent usually not knowing how to fight a pika. Nair, usmash, and fsmash at all good damage rackers. Pika's a kinda odd weight/size for his own comboing, so do a lot of hit and run. You can occasionally do fair/nair->usmash. Otherwise try to draw usmashes from the opponent and wd back fsmash them. Don't rely so much on uair spikes, as pika's recovery can pretty much always overcome it, and it doesn't often lead into much. Rising uairs still lead to nair/dair/bair. Ftilt can be pretty useful for edgeguarding, as it'll usually hit pika's crappy hitbox if he tries to sweetspot. If he recovers above the stage, just jump and nair/bair or usmash if you can predict where he'll go and get there first. Otherwise, play hit and run, and kill with fsmash or usmash primarily.
Ness: Spikable. Very abusable recovery. Also fairly light, and generally has less range than Pika. You should know what it feels like to have a poor grab range, so abuse Ness's poorer grab range. His fair can be pretty good at shutting you down, though, and his djc game will keep him safely close to the ground but still quite able to fair/bair you. Shield->usmash/rising uair when he fairs/bairs you. Take any chance you can to get him off the stage, then interrupt his recovery with an aerial, or just steal his jolt, as you can quickly get to it and recover from it.
Young Link: His projectiles can get annoying, and dsmash or a well-placed dair can kill pika at fairly low percents, but that's most of what he has on you. He's fairly easy to edge-guard, as uair will usually knock him just too far away to upB back (if not, dair his upB making sure to approach from above). If he hookshot recovers, snipe with jolts, or just send a couple jolts around the edge of the stage. This'll usually screw up his recovery, forcing him to upB, when you can usually dair/dtilt/fsmash the edge, or just ledgehog. Dsmash/grab when he's close, and approach with fair/nairs, as he doesn't have much outside of projectiles to stop you. Don't give him much space, as he'll usually try to keep you away and pika isn't amazing at approaching as it is. Watch out for his dair, it's usually pretty easy to avoid but it packs a punch. Same goes for his dsmash.
Ganondorf: Biggish target. Generally easy to combo. The problem is getting around his aerials enough to start a combo. Easy to edge-guard. Also, can kill you in 3 hits. This fight is pretty much speed vs. power. NEVER trade hits in this fight if you can avoid it. 2-3 of pika's normal hits do about as much damage as one aerial from ganon. He's also got a bit of range on you, so watch out for that, and his aerials are bound to get through your shield if you rely on it. Learn the range and speed of his uair and bair, they can make some aerial approaches difficult. Comboing to uair, or hitting him off with nair and then edgeguarding are probably your best kill options, as it's moderately difficult to get in range for a usmash (which takes a decent % to kill him anyways). Dsmash is a viable edgeguard if they miss the sweetspot, as it'll pull them down and towards the stage, and at low percents it's untechable (to my knowledge). Annoy him with jolts if you're on a largeish stage. The name of the game is to not get hit.
Hard
Peach: Another of the easier 'hard' matchups. Turnips > jolts generally, and her dsmash > yours. She's fairly light, so you have that going for you. In my experience, she's not that easy to uair spike, but more power to you if you can pull it off on her. Just uair spike and ledgehog, her vertical recovery is lacking. Mainly use uair to pop her up, then stay below her. Jolts can do a decent job of screwing up her float cancelling game, but it depends on the height she normally floats at. Watch for her dsmash (duh) and possibly usmash. A tactic I often use is to aerial through her (usually nair or fair) and then turn around as soon at you land and rapid A to push her just far enough away that she can't dsmash you, or at least so that the dsmash will only hit you once with good DI. If she's playing a floatcamping game, mix up your approaches and try to bait aerials. Punish with fsmash or jc usmash. She can do some decent damage up close, so jump in and do what you can to pop her up, then try a little comboing. She's too light for most stuff, but you can still double rising uair to thunder, and uair double jump dair, along with a couple other aerial combos. Try to keep the pressure on her without leaving yourself vulnerable, as if you give her space she'll start pulling turnips and get her float cancelling game going. Fair can be somewhat useful in this fight, it either outspeeds or outprioritizes most of her aerials, and can lead to grab or usmash if she DIs poorly, just don't rely on it. Once she's in the hundreds, dthrow can lead into a usmash (which will kill) if you follow DI. Just watch out if she tries to nair after the throw, where you can just shield it and regrab. Also watch out while recovering, as a decent peach can make this rather difficult. If she's floating just over the edge, try to quick attack over her and to a platform. Otherwise, she'll probably dair->nair or just fair you when you go for the edge, and there's not much you can do about it. If she dsmashes the edge, tech it and upB to edgegrab or onto a platform.
Luigi: He's light, which is awesome. He's also got pretty ridiculous priority to alot of his aerials, which isn't so awesome. His nair comes out instantantly and will eat through anything of yours so watch out for it, it can easily break combos. That means no dthrow->usmashes from pika either. He's relatively easy to kill, though. Usmash at mid percentages, or uair to screw his already poor recovery. Edgeguard with aerials, prioritizing uair if it's feasible, and ftilt/fsmash the edge when you don't have the time/ability to jump out to him. If he does get to the edge and you're anywhere near it, he'll probably ledgehop a fair, so shield or avoid it. He can close the distance between you in half a second with a wavedash if you're on the ground, then immediately dsmash or grab, which lead to more aerials. Jolts can work pretty well against this, but make sure you space them right. Watch out for pretty much all his aerials, his wavedash game, stay below him when you can, and take advantage of any opportunities to mess up his rhythm.
Samus: Her fsmash hurts. Her dsmash hurts. She can CC most of your stuff into either of these options. Dsmash if you see her ccing a lot, or sh dairs through her. You have an advantage over many characters in your ability to edgeguard her (jolt spam her bomb-jumping and beam-recovery , or chase her for a nair/uair spike), but that's about it. Screwing up her recovery or usmash kills are probably your best kill options, as we all know she never dies otherwise. Jolts can deal alright with missles, but it's usually best to just avoid them. You can crouch below them unless she land cancels them at the last moment. The biggest pains will be her CC game and fsmash/dsmash, so try to land behind her with any aerials and harass with jolts. Stay under her if she takes to the air and watch for her nair. Hope for an opportunity for a good uair->edgeguarding possibility and you may have a chance. Maybe.
Dr. Mario: Similar to Mario, except instead of a rangey fsmash, he gets a brutal fair. Oh, and pills. Pretty much everything else is the same though. He'll still uair chain you, his dsmash is still ridiculous, and he'll still be rather difficult to approach. Stay close enough that pilling is risky for him, but jump in an out of melee range to avoid getting grabbed and dsmashed. Just uair spike when possible and ledgehog.
Fox: Generally a tough fight, but I personally love fighting foxes. Dsmash owns for when fox wants to get in close range (which is most of the fight). Just don't spam it as it is punishable (usually by a grab or usmash) if you miss. If you're on FD, chainthrow him to 70% (if you can get a grab in), and then usmash->thunder after that. If you can get in a usmash at low percents, it usually leads to 1-2 more usmashes, followed by an aerial. Bthrow is also awesome for setting up an edge-guarding opportunity, and fox is relatively easy to edge-guard, once you get the recovery tendancies of your opponent down. Just uair/nair/dair his upB/overB, harass with jolts, or fsmash/ftilt the edge. Fair->uair also often works well for me when I'm chasing fox off the edge. If you can upB back through his recovery while he's firefoxing/jumping, this can also be pretty brutal. As for things to watch out for, try not to get grabbed (which is easier said than done, I know), it'll lead to a uair. If he goes for the uthrow->uair try to smash DI the initial hit of the uair. DI the throw in one direction, then mash the control stick in the opposite direction right when he hits you with the initial hit of the uair, and if you did it right the second and more painful part of the uair will miss. Dsmash his dairs. Watch out for his usmashes too, as they'll kill you before yours kill him. Some foxes try to play a feint and punish game, so force them to come to you with jolts if you have to. Just be aware he can do the same to you with lasers on flat stages. Sh nairs are also usually pretty safe if you keep getting punished for other approaches. But yeah, bthrow and dsmash are amazing in this fight.
Mario: His dsmash and his fsmash hurt, and there's not a lot you can do about it. Nair also has pretty good priority and can get through your aerials decently. Also, he can chain a few uairs on you and end with a nair or possibly angled fsmash. His dthrow chains a bit as well, and he'll likely end it with a dsmash, nair/uair, or utilt->aerial. He can be awkward to edgeguard with the amount of stalling he can do. Be careful when returning from off the edge, as a well timed cape will prevent any sweetspot attempt. Cape also about nullifies jolts, so you lose that approach option. If he has time, he can cape your thunder too, so thunder asap after high percent usmashes before he recovers from the hit. If he tries CCing a lot, sh dairs through him. A little too light to be very comboable. Essentially, watch his dsmash and fsmash, and don't get grabbed.
Very Hard
Falco: Shlaser can lock you down fairly easily. Escape it to platforms if they're available. Pillar can be annoying, but dsmash will occasionally get through it. Otherwise if he's above you try to fit in a uair before his dair connects. If you can grab him, awesome. Either chain throw or bthrow->edge-guard. Otherwise, don't get locked in your shield, and try to pop him up with rising uairs or dsmashes. As with all ffers, uair chains pretty well, and make the last hit a nair/bair/dair. Then just follow and try to edgeguard. Ftilt angled downwards works pretty well against sweetspot attempts, and dash attack can even work well if you can't make it to the edge quickly otherwise and they don't quite sweetspot. The quick attack from the stage to ledgehog can catch falcos off guard, as you can ledgehog if they try to sweetspot, and ledgehop a nair or uair reverse spike if they go for the stage. Pillar+shlaser just immobilizes pika. And a pika that can't move is a dead pika.
Marth: Range. This is a fight where pika's lack of range shows. If the Marth is at all good at spacing himself, you're pretty screwed. Jolts can help, but they can also be easily cancelled with a sword swing, so don't rely on them. Shield->wd->grab any fsmashes, and usmash out of shield if he ever gets too close. Or grab->bthrow and try a uair spike. Don't rely too heavily on your shield though, it's easy for marth to just grab you from a ridiculous range if he sees you using it a lot. If he does grab you, DI away from whichever direction he throws you, you want to avoid getting fsmashed afterwards. Uair spike owns his recovery pretty well. Some marths will try to jump over you if you're edgehogging, and a quick ledgehopped uair reverse spike is a sure kill. If he tries recovering from below, ledgehopping a nair next to the edge can sometimes knock him away during his upB if you get the timing right. Usually, though, you'll be too busy getting sliced to death to do any of this. You just have about no good way to approach him, which gives him free range to keep you at distance and abuse the length of his sword. This whole fight is about spacing, so get used to his sword length and how far away from him you have to be to be momentarily safe. Try to draw him into wiffing with fsmashes and fairs, then do what you can to close the distance before he can do another attack (or try to shieldgrab it if he does).
Sheik: She'll chain throw you. And then ftilt/dtilt you. And then fair you. And then you're on your next stock. Use the stage to escape being chainthrown if you can (Di to uneven surfaces on some stages, DI and walltech off walls on others, DI to platforms on FoD), or DI off the edge (and try to avoid the fair). If you get a chance to do something, dsmash then follow with aerials, hit-and-run with nairs, and bthrow->uair spike if possible. Pika actually has some decent aerial comboing ablility on sheik, he just has difficulty getting in to start the combo and not get punished for it. Watch out for her needle approaches. If you get caught in your sheild, you'll get grabbed, and that's very bad. Draw her into the air if you can, and then stay below her as she doesn't have that much to do against you from that position except ff'd aerials, most of which are outprioritized by uair if you're below her. She's a bit annoying to edge-guard, but it's definately doable. And if you do get a couple aerials on her while she's off the stage, it's usually enough to kill her. Just watch out for her fairing while she's recovering to prevent this. When she's ledgehogging you, try to upB to a platform if at all possible. She'll usually ledgehop bairs when you return, so going for the stage usually isn't that safe. It's not incredibly unbalanced once you get past the chaingrab. But, ftilt->fair is just ********.
Ice Climbers: Their chain throw will kill you, so don't get grabbed (easy, right? heh). Unfortunately ICs stay to the ground as much as they can, so your approaches will have to be air->ground of which most of pika's suck. Watch out for their smashes, specifically dsmash and fsmash. Don't rely on shield-grabbing while there're still two of them out. If you do grab, try to bthrow asap as you'll usually roll out of the way of the other's impending smash. I usually try to kill nana as soon as I can, as her lack of DI makes her a prime target for usmash->thunder, and her lack of being smart about her jumps makes her easily uair spikable. Dsmash works pretty well to split them up, then just chase nana and do your best to rack up some damage or uair spike and ledgehog her. You can occasionally also split them up with a rising uair->uair or quick bthrow. When they're apart, pika's fast enough to keep nana in the air, racking up damage, and avoid popo in the process. Once you get it down to one IC, things get easier. Still avoid getting grabbed though, as a single IC can chainthrow you. Jolt if you want to mess up their desyncing rhythm, and dsmash when you're close to pop one or both up away from the other to split them up. Almost always try to land on a platform above them when recovering, or be ready to tech the dsmash if you go for the edge. Mostly, be weary of their grab & dsmash, as they'll kill you pretty quickly.
Stage Selection:
This mini-section is devoted to which stages pika does well on and what stages you should counterpick versus certain characters (and what characters you shouldn't pick them versus).
Fountain of Dreams:
This is my most common counterpick vs. chaingrabbers. The platforms of varying height are wonderful for escaping chaingrabs. Just DI to the nearest low platform and tech. It's also pretty good against tall characters, as you can catch them with dsmashes on platforms above them. Against most characters you can crouch below low platforms as well and usmash through them if the opponent is above you. You can also chainthrow fastfallers if you grab them when the platforms are down. The ceiling and sides are average distances out, so it isn't especially good or bad for usmash kills and you still get use out of pika's recovery.
Good against: Chaingrabbers, tall characters
Bad against: Marth
Jungle Japes:
I love this stage for pika. It's primarily useful against fastfallers, as a uair spike can easily kill if they touch the water and don't react in time. It can also be useful against characters who like to recover from below, as they either can't recover from below on this stage or have to be pretty precise with their timing. It's not so good against floaties, though, because of the high ceiling. The multiple ledges and their layout allow for numerous quick attack tricks around the stage, giving pika even more mobility and chances to surprise/confuse the opponent. For instance, from the middle of the stage you can jump slightly and quick attack in either direction (I like doing it through an opponent) and catch the edge of either platform, and then immediately ledgehop an aerial with the invincibility frames. Watch out for the close edges, as some characters can quickly kill you if they catch you near the edge of the stage. Play a lot in the middle and go for uair spikes into the river and ledgehopping game.
Good against: Fastfallers, characters who rely a lot on vertical recovery
Bad against: Most floaties
Corneria:
Low ceiling and uneven terrain are usually pika's friends. You can also abuse the tail if you so desire. Just run to the opposite side of it than the opponent is on, and jolt spam to force them to come to you and potentially take some damage in the process. Usmash kills are the name of the game on this level. Watch out for the close edges, pika's no stranger to dying early off the side.
Good against: Floaties, chaingrabbers
Bad against: Mario/Doc?
Final Destination:
Somewhat good against fastfallers. You get to chaingrab fastfallers to 80%+ or the edge. The problem is fox/falco/c.falcon all do pretty well on Final D, so it all relies on whether or not they can prevent getting grabbed and juggled. Also be weary about picking this against a Falco, as you'll have nowhere to escape from the lasers. It's a terrible stage versus most chaingrabbers, as getting grabbed means death for pika. It's a risky counterpick, but I thought I'd include it anyways.
Good against: Fastfallers (sorta)
Bad against: Chaingrabbers
Pokemon Stadium:
This stage has a lot of room to run around and play a projectile game in. Its main strength is the stage changes though, as some of them can be pretty advantageous to pika. You can rapid A some characters on the fire stage(in the nook of the tree) and rock stage (on any of the platforms along the mountain, or at its base). You can also harass people with jolts along the left side of the rock stage, just spam jolts either up or down the side of the mountain, and thunder if they try to chase you down there. The differing stages can also aid in your recovery, as they usually give you a few more options of where to quickattack to, avoiding the opponent. Otherwise, use pika's mobility to maneauver around the different formations of the stage. The ceiling is a little high, so it may not be a good pick against some floaties.
Good against: Slow/immobile characters, somewhat large characters.
Bad against: Floaties (kinda)
Rainbox Cruise & Pokefloats:
These stages have a lot of similarities, so I'll address them together. They're pretty good against chaingrabbers, floaty characters, and anyone who can't move around very fast. Additionally, moving stages own nana, she's pretty dumb, so I'll usually counterpick one of these versus ICs. Against anyone you can lead/chase them towards the top of the stage, and then try to usmash for a quick kill. Close to the sides you can gimp with a backthrow, as pika will roll off screen and chuck the opponent into the edge of the stage. Just be careful, as your low weight means that you can die easily near the sides too. Again, use your mobility to get around the stage and chase characters into positions you can easily escape from but that they can't easily deal with.
Good against: Almost anyone
Bad against: Anyone more maneauverable than you
Mute City:
Another moving stage. Not as useful against chaingrabbers, but it can be pretty useful against characters that rely a lot on sweetspotting their recoveries, as there are no edges. Nair/fsmash to get the opponent off the edge, then abuse any laggy or predictable recoveries with a charged usmash or fsmash. Mix up your quick attack recoveries (i.e. recover to different parts of the stage, quick attack over and then up through the stage) to keep them guessing as to where you're going to return to. The ceiling can be kind of high at times, and usmash->thunder can be more risky without an edge if you jump off the stage during it, but it's usually not too big of an issue.
Good against: Characters dependant on sweetspotting recoveries
Bad against: Peach, Jigglypuff
Dreamland 64:
While usually a mediocre stage for pika, it can be useful against fastfallers and those with bad recoveries (i.e. roy). Pikachu lives forever on this stage, or at least longer than he's used to, and the stage offers plenty of room to maneauver around. You can also chainthrow fastfallers a little in the middle, getting at least a couple throws and finishing with a usmash. While it's harder to get kills off the top, they're still possible against most characters with a little more percent than normal. If you counterpick this, though, you'll probably be going primarily for uair spike gimps and edgeguarding kills.
Good against: Fastfallers, characters with poor recovery.
Bad against: Most floaties.
Pichu: One of the few characters Pika has a range advantage on, so take advantage of it. He's light, so he's nice usmash bait. Also, your jolts are spammable, his aren't. Try to stay close enough to hit him with usmash/tilts, but not quite close enough for his usmash, because his usmash->thunder can still kill you at mid-high percents. When recovering against him, try to quick attack over him if he's waiting by the edge(to avoid his fsmash), and sweetspot if you can get to the edge before him. If you do get hit by his fsmash, try to smash DI away and up out of it.
Kirby: Another character with less range. He also doesn't have many combos on pika (that I know of). Watch the bair when recovering, and be quick to upB if he dairs you, as you can almost always recover from it once you get the timing down. Snipe his recovery with jolts, or fsmash/dtilt/ftilt the ledge when he upBs, then ledgehog. Uair spikes can also be kinda brutal, especially if you can get him after he's used a few jumps. If he's not CCing, fsmash or usmash when possible. If he is, dsmash. You don't have to worry about a projectile against him (unless he gains your powers, but that's minor), so spam jolts to get him in the air if need be, then just stay under him. Usmash at mid-high percents or ftilt/fsmashing his upB are probably your best methods of killing him. Watch for his uair, it hurts.
Mewtwo: Just a poor character in most respects. About equal in range of moves, with a slight advantage to mewtwo. Pika's moves pack more punch though, and are easier to string together. Uair spike when you can, and usmash when you can't. Try not to get grabbed, as it'll probably be the way he'll kill you after 100%. Spamming jolts is usually pretty safe, as it's a bit better than his shadow pellets, especially on uneven surfaces. He dies to usmash->thunder early, and his recovery makes uair spike kills difficult, so go for upwards kills if at all possible. Fsmash works too for stages with closeish sides. Whenever he dtilts you, DI away to avoid getting faired/grabbed, and watch out for a grab as soon as you land. Usually you can nair/fair before you land from the dtilt to catch him off guard, or just ftilt once you land. I think you can cc the dtilt into a dsmash at lower percentages too.
Easy
DK: A big target. Uair destroys his recovery as well, when you get the chance for one. His bair isn't that big of a threat for edgeguarding, as you can usually get around it, but still watch out for it. His uair (or grab->carry->uthrow->uair) can also be pretty nasty. Mix up your DI, as he has many options from the uair (fair if you DI in front, uair or bair if you DI behind) but he has to somewhat prepare for it. At high percentages (90-100ish), you'll probably outright die from uair. He's got some range to him, but most of his big-range attacks are either slow or weak(except bair). If he's retreating fairs a lot, just wait and jc grab right after he lands. or you can just jolt and force him to come to you. Pop him up with a uair or nair whenever possible and just keep the pressure on. Pika can do some nasty combos on DK. Use your speed and his size to your advantage. For edgeguarding him, I usually either fsmash the edge, dair him from above while he's off the stage, or ledgehog right before he upBs to the edge, and then nair him while I still have some invincibility frames. If they're good at wallteching, you can also catch them off guard by just jabbing once while they upB near the edge and they often will fall too much to make it back by the time they upB again (DK's vertical recovery is terrible). Main things to watch out for is grabs (he can easily do 60% to you from one), upB from shield (it has a surprisingly large hitbox), and bair.
Yoshi: Jolt > eggs. Your smashes >= his smashes. Abuse his lack of a third jump whenever possible. If you can uair him after his second jump, by all means do it. Usmash out of shield any nair/dash attack approaches by him. Dsmash works well as well. Watch out for his dsmash, occasional usmash/fsmash, and a well-placed nair. Also be weary of his ability to double jump to a ledgehog quickly, so be ready to quick attack to the stage at a moment's notice if he's near the edge. Play a lot of hit and run, just nair/dairing through him, and use jolts to make him come to you.
Game & Watch: Shield->usmash->thunder. Shield->wd->grab. You win. Ok, not quite as simple as that, but it's close. G&W is light as hell, so usmash->thunder kills at <60% are quite possible. Shield->usmash his aerials. Stay just out of range of his dtilts and fsmash if he tries one. Try not to get grabbed
Zelda: Also, light as hell. Her aerials pack a punch, and keep a weary eye for her fsmash, but thankfully she's pretty slow and immobile. Use your speed to your advantage, play mostly a hit-and-run game until she's in the mid 60%s, then get ready to usmash. Don't rely too much on jolts, as she can reflect them (though, it's a bit of a laggy reflector). Uair can also be somewhat brutal on her recovery, just uair, ledgehog, and then follow her onto the stage into a usmash if she does go for the stage. Primarily watch out for her bairs and fairs, they're the center of her game, so get used to the spacing she needs for them and stay out of that range.
Even
Bowser: Big target. Have fun with the combos. Also, uair spike owns his recovery if you can get one in. Otherwise, be ready to do a fair amount of damage before killing him (probably with a usmash). Try not to trade blows, as it won't benefit you. Dsmash/fair/grab, do whatever you can to start a combo, then don't let up. Most of the match is avoiding his tricks and combing the hell out of him when you can. Never land next to him while he's sheilding if you can avoid it, as you'll get fortressed. This isn't so bad at lower percentages (though it still does some damage), but it'll kill you at 100%+ depending on stage and DI. Also don't get too dependant on your shield, he can still approach with a claw if he expects it. His fair and uair are the only aerials you really have to worry about, because of the speed of the fair and the knockback of the uair. Try to avoid getting above him, as he has multiple ways of killing you at pretty low percents (utilt, usmash, uair). Watch out for his <100% getup attack also as it's quick and has more priority than about anything of yours. His ftilt will be his primary edgeguarding tool, and it will easily hit pika's crappy hitbox upon recovery. Try to stall (so that he mistimes his ftilt), or recover to a platform above and away from him.
Link: He's got some range on you (especially with the projectiles), and a bit of knockback to some moves, but he's generally lacking in mobility. Hit and run seems to work best, and his weight makes him moderately comboable, but watch out for him to sneak in a nair/dair to break it...and potentially kill you. His uair is quick and dangerous too, so avoid approaching from above when possible. Jolt his projectiles when possible. Uair spike if the chance arises, and then follow the same edge-guarding plan as vs. young link. Fsmash or usmash any missed/shielded upBs/hookshots. His upB edgeguard can also hit your upB hitbox during recovery, so be ready to tech and return to the stage before his lag finishes. Mostly similar to the y.link fight, except you'll have to do a little more damage, and will die a little faster to most moves.
Roy: He's got range on you, but he's still gotta get close to kill you, and pika generally does alright in close quarters. Annoy him with jolts. Uair ***** his recovery about as much as marth's. And pretty much anything that sends him off the edge is good, because his recovery is utter crap. Just knock him off with an aerial or fsmash and follow him out with a soft nair or other aerial to push him just a bit farther, which is all that is needed to kill him. Otherwise, just hit and run, staying just outside the distance of his sword.
Falcon: He can combo the hell out of you, but you can do the same thing right back to him. Whoever sets the pace for a life usually ends up taking that stock. Uair screws up most of his aerial game, and dsmash can get through a lot of his approach. If you get grabbed, you'll get punished, but the same thing goes for him (though his grab is admittantly better). Interrupt his combos with fair/nair/uair. Edge-guard with aerials or jolts, same-ol-same-ol. Watch out for a knee or nair from the edge, usually just back up a bit and jolt spam until he gets off the edge and chase his recovery. Just take advantage of uair/uthrow/usmash combos thanks to his fastfalliness and size. Stay below him and usmash/dsmash or do rising aerials. If you're above him, you'll get uaired. Watch out for his stomp (dsmash will uuuusually take care of it) as it will lead to a knee. And knees freakin hurt.
Jigglypuff: Though many pika players say Jiggly is easymode, the fight becomes a lot more difficult at more advanced levels of play. She is light as hell, take advantage of it. Pika's not very wall-of-painable (DI away from the first if it hits you, and you're fine), and a smallish target for a rest, so Jiggly loses a couple of her strengths in that respect. It's hard for jiggs to edgeguard pika, so feel free to hang back a bit when recovering if she chases you out, and just upB around her to get back to the stage. At low percentages, don't get uptilted and watch out for uair, as both could lead to a rest. Usually you can stick in an aerial or dsmash before jiggs to avoid either of these situations. Jolt to keep her off the ground and usmash whenever there's an opportunity. You've got almost as much mobility in the air as her as well, so use that if you wish. Just watch out for her bair, its hitbox is ridiculous.
Pikachu: Duh. A lot of pika's tricks don't work on himself, so it's kind of a weird fight. You also don't have the advantage of your opponent usually not knowing how to fight a pika. Nair, usmash, and fsmash at all good damage rackers. Pika's a kinda odd weight/size for his own comboing, so do a lot of hit and run. You can occasionally do fair/nair->usmash. Otherwise try to draw usmashes from the opponent and wd back fsmash them. Don't rely so much on uair spikes, as pika's recovery can pretty much always overcome it, and it doesn't often lead into much. Rising uairs still lead to nair/dair/bair. Ftilt can be pretty useful for edgeguarding, as it'll usually hit pika's crappy hitbox if he tries to sweetspot. If he recovers above the stage, just jump and nair/bair or usmash if you can predict where he'll go and get there first. Otherwise, play hit and run, and kill with fsmash or usmash primarily.
Ness: Spikable. Very abusable recovery. Also fairly light, and generally has less range than Pika. You should know what it feels like to have a poor grab range, so abuse Ness's poorer grab range. His fair can be pretty good at shutting you down, though, and his djc game will keep him safely close to the ground but still quite able to fair/bair you. Shield->usmash/rising uair when he fairs/bairs you. Take any chance you can to get him off the stage, then interrupt his recovery with an aerial, or just steal his jolt, as you can quickly get to it and recover from it.
Young Link: His projectiles can get annoying, and dsmash or a well-placed dair can kill pika at fairly low percents, but that's most of what he has on you. He's fairly easy to edge-guard, as uair will usually knock him just too far away to upB back (if not, dair his upB making sure to approach from above). If he hookshot recovers, snipe with jolts, or just send a couple jolts around the edge of the stage. This'll usually screw up his recovery, forcing him to upB, when you can usually dair/dtilt/fsmash the edge, or just ledgehog. Dsmash/grab when he's close, and approach with fair/nairs, as he doesn't have much outside of projectiles to stop you. Don't give him much space, as he'll usually try to keep you away and pika isn't amazing at approaching as it is. Watch out for his dair, it's usually pretty easy to avoid but it packs a punch. Same goes for his dsmash.
Ganondorf: Biggish target. Generally easy to combo. The problem is getting around his aerials enough to start a combo. Easy to edge-guard. Also, can kill you in 3 hits. This fight is pretty much speed vs. power. NEVER trade hits in this fight if you can avoid it. 2-3 of pika's normal hits do about as much damage as one aerial from ganon. He's also got a bit of range on you, so watch out for that, and his aerials are bound to get through your shield if you rely on it. Learn the range and speed of his uair and bair, they can make some aerial approaches difficult. Comboing to uair, or hitting him off with nair and then edgeguarding are probably your best kill options, as it's moderately difficult to get in range for a usmash (which takes a decent % to kill him anyways). Dsmash is a viable edgeguard if they miss the sweetspot, as it'll pull them down and towards the stage, and at low percents it's untechable (to my knowledge). Annoy him with jolts if you're on a largeish stage. The name of the game is to not get hit.
Hard
Peach: Another of the easier 'hard' matchups. Turnips > jolts generally, and her dsmash > yours. She's fairly light, so you have that going for you. In my experience, she's not that easy to uair spike, but more power to you if you can pull it off on her. Just uair spike and ledgehog, her vertical recovery is lacking. Mainly use uair to pop her up, then stay below her. Jolts can do a decent job of screwing up her float cancelling game, but it depends on the height she normally floats at. Watch for her dsmash (duh) and possibly usmash. A tactic I often use is to aerial through her (usually nair or fair) and then turn around as soon at you land and rapid A to push her just far enough away that she can't dsmash you, or at least so that the dsmash will only hit you once with good DI. If she's playing a floatcamping game, mix up your approaches and try to bait aerials. Punish with fsmash or jc usmash. She can do some decent damage up close, so jump in and do what you can to pop her up, then try a little comboing. She's too light for most stuff, but you can still double rising uair to thunder, and uair double jump dair, along with a couple other aerial combos. Try to keep the pressure on her without leaving yourself vulnerable, as if you give her space she'll start pulling turnips and get her float cancelling game going. Fair can be somewhat useful in this fight, it either outspeeds or outprioritizes most of her aerials, and can lead to grab or usmash if she DIs poorly, just don't rely on it. Once she's in the hundreds, dthrow can lead into a usmash (which will kill) if you follow DI. Just watch out if she tries to nair after the throw, where you can just shield it and regrab. Also watch out while recovering, as a decent peach can make this rather difficult. If she's floating just over the edge, try to quick attack over her and to a platform. Otherwise, she'll probably dair->nair or just fair you when you go for the edge, and there's not much you can do about it. If she dsmashes the edge, tech it and upB to edgegrab or onto a platform.
Luigi: He's light, which is awesome. He's also got pretty ridiculous priority to alot of his aerials, which isn't so awesome. His nair comes out instantantly and will eat through anything of yours so watch out for it, it can easily break combos. That means no dthrow->usmashes from pika either. He's relatively easy to kill, though. Usmash at mid percentages, or uair to screw his already poor recovery. Edgeguard with aerials, prioritizing uair if it's feasible, and ftilt/fsmash the edge when you don't have the time/ability to jump out to him. If he does get to the edge and you're anywhere near it, he'll probably ledgehop a fair, so shield or avoid it. He can close the distance between you in half a second with a wavedash if you're on the ground, then immediately dsmash or grab, which lead to more aerials. Jolts can work pretty well against this, but make sure you space them right. Watch out for pretty much all his aerials, his wavedash game, stay below him when you can, and take advantage of any opportunities to mess up his rhythm.
Samus: Her fsmash hurts. Her dsmash hurts. She can CC most of your stuff into either of these options. Dsmash if you see her ccing a lot, or sh dairs through her. You have an advantage over many characters in your ability to edgeguard her (jolt spam her bomb-jumping and beam-recovery , or chase her for a nair/uair spike), but that's about it. Screwing up her recovery or usmash kills are probably your best kill options, as we all know she never dies otherwise. Jolts can deal alright with missles, but it's usually best to just avoid them. You can crouch below them unless she land cancels them at the last moment. The biggest pains will be her CC game and fsmash/dsmash, so try to land behind her with any aerials and harass with jolts. Stay under her if she takes to the air and watch for her nair. Hope for an opportunity for a good uair->edgeguarding possibility and you may have a chance. Maybe.
Dr. Mario: Similar to Mario, except instead of a rangey fsmash, he gets a brutal fair. Oh, and pills. Pretty much everything else is the same though. He'll still uair chain you, his dsmash is still ridiculous, and he'll still be rather difficult to approach. Stay close enough that pilling is risky for him, but jump in an out of melee range to avoid getting grabbed and dsmashed. Just uair spike when possible and ledgehog.
Fox: Generally a tough fight, but I personally love fighting foxes. Dsmash owns for when fox wants to get in close range (which is most of the fight). Just don't spam it as it is punishable (usually by a grab or usmash) if you miss. If you're on FD, chainthrow him to 70% (if you can get a grab in), and then usmash->thunder after that. If you can get in a usmash at low percents, it usually leads to 1-2 more usmashes, followed by an aerial. Bthrow is also awesome for setting up an edge-guarding opportunity, and fox is relatively easy to edge-guard, once you get the recovery tendancies of your opponent down. Just uair/nair/dair his upB/overB, harass with jolts, or fsmash/ftilt the edge. Fair->uair also often works well for me when I'm chasing fox off the edge. If you can upB back through his recovery while he's firefoxing/jumping, this can also be pretty brutal. As for things to watch out for, try not to get grabbed (which is easier said than done, I know), it'll lead to a uair. If he goes for the uthrow->uair try to smash DI the initial hit of the uair. DI the throw in one direction, then mash the control stick in the opposite direction right when he hits you with the initial hit of the uair, and if you did it right the second and more painful part of the uair will miss. Dsmash his dairs. Watch out for his usmashes too, as they'll kill you before yours kill him. Some foxes try to play a feint and punish game, so force them to come to you with jolts if you have to. Just be aware he can do the same to you with lasers on flat stages. Sh nairs are also usually pretty safe if you keep getting punished for other approaches. But yeah, bthrow and dsmash are amazing in this fight.
Mario: His dsmash and his fsmash hurt, and there's not a lot you can do about it. Nair also has pretty good priority and can get through your aerials decently. Also, he can chain a few uairs on you and end with a nair or possibly angled fsmash. His dthrow chains a bit as well, and he'll likely end it with a dsmash, nair/uair, or utilt->aerial. He can be awkward to edgeguard with the amount of stalling he can do. Be careful when returning from off the edge, as a well timed cape will prevent any sweetspot attempt. Cape also about nullifies jolts, so you lose that approach option. If he has time, he can cape your thunder too, so thunder asap after high percent usmashes before he recovers from the hit. If he tries CCing a lot, sh dairs through him. A little too light to be very comboable. Essentially, watch his dsmash and fsmash, and don't get grabbed.
Very Hard
Falco: Shlaser can lock you down fairly easily. Escape it to platforms if they're available. Pillar can be annoying, but dsmash will occasionally get through it. Otherwise if he's above you try to fit in a uair before his dair connects. If you can grab him, awesome. Either chain throw or bthrow->edge-guard. Otherwise, don't get locked in your shield, and try to pop him up with rising uairs or dsmashes. As with all ffers, uair chains pretty well, and make the last hit a nair/bair/dair. Then just follow and try to edgeguard. Ftilt angled downwards works pretty well against sweetspot attempts, and dash attack can even work well if you can't make it to the edge quickly otherwise and they don't quite sweetspot. The quick attack from the stage to ledgehog can catch falcos off guard, as you can ledgehog if they try to sweetspot, and ledgehop a nair or uair reverse spike if they go for the stage. Pillar+shlaser just immobilizes pika. And a pika that can't move is a dead pika.
Marth: Range. This is a fight where pika's lack of range shows. If the Marth is at all good at spacing himself, you're pretty screwed. Jolts can help, but they can also be easily cancelled with a sword swing, so don't rely on them. Shield->wd->grab any fsmashes, and usmash out of shield if he ever gets too close. Or grab->bthrow and try a uair spike. Don't rely too heavily on your shield though, it's easy for marth to just grab you from a ridiculous range if he sees you using it a lot. If he does grab you, DI away from whichever direction he throws you, you want to avoid getting fsmashed afterwards. Uair spike owns his recovery pretty well. Some marths will try to jump over you if you're edgehogging, and a quick ledgehopped uair reverse spike is a sure kill. If he tries recovering from below, ledgehopping a nair next to the edge can sometimes knock him away during his upB if you get the timing right. Usually, though, you'll be too busy getting sliced to death to do any of this. You just have about no good way to approach him, which gives him free range to keep you at distance and abuse the length of his sword. This whole fight is about spacing, so get used to his sword length and how far away from him you have to be to be momentarily safe. Try to draw him into wiffing with fsmashes and fairs, then do what you can to close the distance before he can do another attack (or try to shieldgrab it if he does).
Sheik: She'll chain throw you. And then ftilt/dtilt you. And then fair you. And then you're on your next stock. Use the stage to escape being chainthrown if you can (Di to uneven surfaces on some stages, DI and walltech off walls on others, DI to platforms on FoD), or DI off the edge (and try to avoid the fair). If you get a chance to do something, dsmash then follow with aerials, hit-and-run with nairs, and bthrow->uair spike if possible. Pika actually has some decent aerial comboing ablility on sheik, he just has difficulty getting in to start the combo and not get punished for it. Watch out for her needle approaches. If you get caught in your sheild, you'll get grabbed, and that's very bad. Draw her into the air if you can, and then stay below her as she doesn't have that much to do against you from that position except ff'd aerials, most of which are outprioritized by uair if you're below her. She's a bit annoying to edge-guard, but it's definately doable. And if you do get a couple aerials on her while she's off the stage, it's usually enough to kill her. Just watch out for her fairing while she's recovering to prevent this. When she's ledgehogging you, try to upB to a platform if at all possible. She'll usually ledgehop bairs when you return, so going for the stage usually isn't that safe. It's not incredibly unbalanced once you get past the chaingrab. But, ftilt->fair is just ********.
Ice Climbers: Their chain throw will kill you, so don't get grabbed (easy, right? heh). Unfortunately ICs stay to the ground as much as they can, so your approaches will have to be air->ground of which most of pika's suck. Watch out for their smashes, specifically dsmash and fsmash. Don't rely on shield-grabbing while there're still two of them out. If you do grab, try to bthrow asap as you'll usually roll out of the way of the other's impending smash. I usually try to kill nana as soon as I can, as her lack of DI makes her a prime target for usmash->thunder, and her lack of being smart about her jumps makes her easily uair spikable. Dsmash works pretty well to split them up, then just chase nana and do your best to rack up some damage or uair spike and ledgehog her. You can occasionally also split them up with a rising uair->uair or quick bthrow. When they're apart, pika's fast enough to keep nana in the air, racking up damage, and avoid popo in the process. Once you get it down to one IC, things get easier. Still avoid getting grabbed though, as a single IC can chainthrow you. Jolt if you want to mess up their desyncing rhythm, and dsmash when you're close to pop one or both up away from the other to split them up. Almost always try to land on a platform above them when recovering, or be ready to tech the dsmash if you go for the edge. Mostly, be weary of their grab & dsmash, as they'll kill you pretty quickly.
Stage Selection:
This mini-section is devoted to which stages pika does well on and what stages you should counterpick versus certain characters (and what characters you shouldn't pick them versus).
Fountain of Dreams:
This is my most common counterpick vs. chaingrabbers. The platforms of varying height are wonderful for escaping chaingrabs. Just DI to the nearest low platform and tech. It's also pretty good against tall characters, as you can catch them with dsmashes on platforms above them. Against most characters you can crouch below low platforms as well and usmash through them if the opponent is above you. You can also chainthrow fastfallers if you grab them when the platforms are down. The ceiling and sides are average distances out, so it isn't especially good or bad for usmash kills and you still get use out of pika's recovery.
Good against: Chaingrabbers, tall characters
Bad against: Marth
Jungle Japes:
I love this stage for pika. It's primarily useful against fastfallers, as a uair spike can easily kill if they touch the water and don't react in time. It can also be useful against characters who like to recover from below, as they either can't recover from below on this stage or have to be pretty precise with their timing. It's not so good against floaties, though, because of the high ceiling. The multiple ledges and their layout allow for numerous quick attack tricks around the stage, giving pika even more mobility and chances to surprise/confuse the opponent. For instance, from the middle of the stage you can jump slightly and quick attack in either direction (I like doing it through an opponent) and catch the edge of either platform, and then immediately ledgehop an aerial with the invincibility frames. Watch out for the close edges, as some characters can quickly kill you if they catch you near the edge of the stage. Play a lot in the middle and go for uair spikes into the river and ledgehopping game.
Good against: Fastfallers, characters who rely a lot on vertical recovery
Bad against: Most floaties
Corneria:
Low ceiling and uneven terrain are usually pika's friends. You can also abuse the tail if you so desire. Just run to the opposite side of it than the opponent is on, and jolt spam to force them to come to you and potentially take some damage in the process. Usmash kills are the name of the game on this level. Watch out for the close edges, pika's no stranger to dying early off the side.
Good against: Floaties, chaingrabbers
Bad against: Mario/Doc?
Final Destination:
Somewhat good against fastfallers. You get to chaingrab fastfallers to 80%+ or the edge. The problem is fox/falco/c.falcon all do pretty well on Final D, so it all relies on whether or not they can prevent getting grabbed and juggled. Also be weary about picking this against a Falco, as you'll have nowhere to escape from the lasers. It's a terrible stage versus most chaingrabbers, as getting grabbed means death for pika. It's a risky counterpick, but I thought I'd include it anyways.
Good against: Fastfallers (sorta)
Bad against: Chaingrabbers
Pokemon Stadium:
This stage has a lot of room to run around and play a projectile game in. Its main strength is the stage changes though, as some of them can be pretty advantageous to pika. You can rapid A some characters on the fire stage(in the nook of the tree) and rock stage (on any of the platforms along the mountain, or at its base). You can also harass people with jolts along the left side of the rock stage, just spam jolts either up or down the side of the mountain, and thunder if they try to chase you down there. The differing stages can also aid in your recovery, as they usually give you a few more options of where to quickattack to, avoiding the opponent. Otherwise, use pika's mobility to maneauver around the different formations of the stage. The ceiling is a little high, so it may not be a good pick against some floaties.
Good against: Slow/immobile characters, somewhat large characters.
Bad against: Floaties (kinda)
Rainbox Cruise & Pokefloats:
These stages have a lot of similarities, so I'll address them together. They're pretty good against chaingrabbers, floaty characters, and anyone who can't move around very fast. Additionally, moving stages own nana, she's pretty dumb, so I'll usually counterpick one of these versus ICs. Against anyone you can lead/chase them towards the top of the stage, and then try to usmash for a quick kill. Close to the sides you can gimp with a backthrow, as pika will roll off screen and chuck the opponent into the edge of the stage. Just be careful, as your low weight means that you can die easily near the sides too. Again, use your mobility to get around the stage and chase characters into positions you can easily escape from but that they can't easily deal with.
Good against: Almost anyone
Bad against: Anyone more maneauverable than you
Mute City:
Another moving stage. Not as useful against chaingrabbers, but it can be pretty useful against characters that rely a lot on sweetspotting their recoveries, as there are no edges. Nair/fsmash to get the opponent off the edge, then abuse any laggy or predictable recoveries with a charged usmash or fsmash. Mix up your quick attack recoveries (i.e. recover to different parts of the stage, quick attack over and then up through the stage) to keep them guessing as to where you're going to return to. The ceiling can be kind of high at times, and usmash->thunder can be more risky without an edge if you jump off the stage during it, but it's usually not too big of an issue.
Good against: Characters dependant on sweetspotting recoveries
Bad against: Peach, Jigglypuff
Dreamland 64:
While usually a mediocre stage for pika, it can be useful against fastfallers and those with bad recoveries (i.e. roy). Pikachu lives forever on this stage, or at least longer than he's used to, and the stage offers plenty of room to maneauver around. You can also chainthrow fastfallers a little in the middle, getting at least a couple throws and finishing with a usmash. While it's harder to get kills off the top, they're still possible against most characters with a little more percent than normal. If you counterpick this, though, you'll probably be going primarily for uair spike gimps and edgeguarding kills.
Good against: Fastfallers, characters with poor recovery.
Bad against: Most floaties.
Last edited: